Western Conference Finals from an Oklahoma City Fan Perspective

You don’t meet many Oklahoma City Thunder fans on the east coast or anywhere else for that matter. Sure there are plenty of Durant and Westbrook fans. But those are the fans that just follow whatever team their favorite player is on. I’m one of the few diehard from day one Oklahoma City Thunder fans.

I could babble on about their history beginning with that 23 win 2008 team, the rise to the NBA Finals in their fourth year, or even being let down each year after that because Durant, Westbrook, or Ibaka would get hurt. But I’m not here to wallow in my own self-pity. I’m here to get fired up for the Western Conference Finals.

After finishing third in the West behind one of the best Spurs team ever and the record setting 73 win Warriors, the Thunder were written off as a team that would be a favorite to win it all…any other year. Even after dispatching the Mavericks in five games, the Thunder were picked by virtually nobody to get by the Spurs. A horrible game one made it look like we were in for another “what if” season. Then the unthinkable happened and here we are hours before game one of the Western Conference Finals. ESPN is giving Oklahoma City a 30% chance of getting by the Warriors. But I don’t buy it. Sure they went 0-3 against the Warriors this year. But they were tied or leading in the 4th in all three games until Steph Curry did Steph Curry things.

So here are the keys to the Thunder moving on towards the NBA Finals.

Durant needs to continue his dominance against the Warriors. He could not be contained by them this season, and much like every other game, we have to rely on him (and Westbrook) scoring 30+ to beat the Warriors.

Steven Adams and Enes Kanter have to continue dominating the boards. Since the playoffs started, going big for the Thunder has paid off. It’s simple. They get the rebounds and keep the ball from the splash brothers.

Win two on the road. If the Thunder steal one of the first two games and game five at the Warriors, this series has Oklahoma City winning written all over it.

With that said, I’m going to nervously be live tweeting the entire series. So if you want a bit of extra entertainment from this already guaranteed all-time great playoff series, follow me on the Twitter.